BOSNIA: THE NEW COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SARAJEVO 000319

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

EUR FOR DICARLO, EUR/SCE FOR HOH, FOOKS AND STINCHCOMB, NSC
FOR BRAUN, JCS FOR FLORY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: THE NEW COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

REF: SARAJEVO 0063


1. (U) Following is biographic information on the new BiH
Council of Ministers, confirmed by the BiH House of
Representatives on February 9. Details of the parliamentary
session will be reported septel.


MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SVEN ALKALAJ (Sven AL-ka-lye),SBiH
--------------


2. (SBU) Born November 11, 1948 in Sarajevo, Alkalaj
graduated from the Sarajevo Faculty of Mechanics in 1974 and
obtained his Master's degree in 1987 from Sarajevo University
with a specialization in International Relations and
Economics. In 1999, he earned a PhD in Corporate Finance via
the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School.
Alkalaj began his career as a commercial manager for the
Petroinvest company in 1975. In 1985, he was appointed
regional manager for the Middle and Far East for
Energoinvest, at that time the biggest company in South-East
Europe. From 1988-94 he was Managing Director of
Energioinvest in Thailand.


3. (SBU) Alkalaj probably would have remained a successful
businessman if he had not met Haris Silajdzic. Silajdzic
persuaded Alkalaj to join the fledgling Bosnian Government in
1994 and appointed him Ambassador to the U.S. In 1994,
Alkalaj took up his first diplomatic posting as Bosnian
Ambassador to the Unites States. He remained in that
position until 2000, when he became the Bosnian Ambassador to
the Organization of American States. In February 2004, he
was appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head
of the Bosnian Mission to NATO. Over the past ten years,
Alkalaj has proved himself a skilled diplomat. For many
years he was the only Jew in the Bosnian MFA.


4. (SBU) During his tenure as Ambassador in Washington,
Alkalaj established excellent relations with many members of
Congress and Senators, especially Joe Lieberman, Carl Levin
and Joseph Biden, with whom he has maintained personal
friendships. He is married with two children.

MINISTER OF DEFENSE
SELMO CIKOTIC (SELL-mow TSEE-ko-tich),SDA
--------------


5. (SBU) NOTE: Although confirmed by the HoR Feburary 9,
Cikotic will not assume his duties as defense minister until
April 22, 2007, because of a regulation that three years must
elapse from his retirement from active military duty before
he can take up a civilian position in the MoD. END NOTE.
General Selmo Cikotic (ret.) was born January 25, 1964 in
Ivangrad, Montenegro. He began his military career in the
former JNA (Yugoslav National Army),graduating from the
military academy with a specialization in artillery in Zadar
(Croatia) in 1986. Cikotic completed English language
training while in the JNA and obtained a master's degree in
defense and security studies from Sarajevo University in

2005.


6. (SBU) During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992
-1995) Cikotic served in the BiH Army in several capacities:
In 1992 he was the commanding officer of BiH Army units in
Sarajevo, and worked as the BiH Army Joint Command Liaison
Officer to UNPROFOR in Sarajevo. At the end of 1992, he
transferred to the BiH Army 3rd Corps in Zenica, where he
worked in the Corps headquarters. From March 1993 until
April 1994 he was Commander of Tactical Group West. From
April 1994 until December 1994, Cikotic was Deputy Commander
of the BiH Army 7th Corps, stationed in Travnik. He was
promoted to the rank of brigadier general on September 22,

1994. Following his promotion, Cikotic served as the
military attache at the Bosnian Embassy in Washington until
June 1997.


7. (SBU) Upon his return to Sarajevo in 1997, Cikotic was
appointed Federation Army Chief of Department for training,
education, doctrine and practice. He remained in that
position until January 1999. From January 1999 until April
2000, Cikotic was Chief of Cabinet for the Deputy Minister of
Defense in the Federation, after which he served as Deputy
Commander of the 1st Corps of the Federation Army.


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8. (SBU) In 2004, Cikotic was selected as a candidate for
the position of Commander of BiH Army Joint Command (Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). At the time, allegations that
Cikotic had participated in war crimes in Bugojno led SFOR to
prevent his appointment, and Cikotic was forced to retire
from active duty. In 2005, following an investigation into
the war crimes allegations, both ICTY and NATO cleared
Cikotic. ICTY and NATO stated that there was no evidence
that Cikotic was involved in the commission of war crimes and
ICTY confirmed there was no further ICTY investigation into
his wartime actions. As a result, the then-NATO Commander in
BiH, General Steven Schook, officially rehabilitated Cikotic
and apologized for having removed him from office. Cikotic
is married with two children. He speaks excellent English,
and has a basic knowledge of Russian. His hobbies are
shooting, swimming, skiing and reading.

MINISTER OF CIVIL AFFAIRS
SREDOJE NOVIC (SRE-doe-yay NO-vich),SNSD
--------------


9. (SBU) Born February 14, 1947 in Donji Detlak, Derventa
Municipality (Republika Srpska),Novic is a lawyer by
profession, with a master,s degree. This pre-war resident
of Sarajevo now lives in Banja Luka. Novic is married with
two grown children. One of his daughters allegedly works for
the Serbian intelligence service.


10. (SBU) From October 2002 until his confirmation as
minister, Novic served as Director of the State Protection
and Investigation Agency (SIPA),although his reappointment
to that position in May 2005 was controversial. While many
had hoped Novic would use his substantial security sector
experience to get SIPA up and running quickly and
effectively, his overall performance was disappointing.
There were external bureaucratic delays in filling SIPA,s
ranks, but rumors have circulated that Novic,s political
backers were not interested in a strong SIPA, which would
reduce the power of the Republika Srpska police.


11. (SBU) Previously, Novic worked as lawyer in Banja Luka
(June 2001-October 2002),as Minister of the RS Ministry of
Interior (November 1998-January 2001),as head of the RS
Intelligence Service (January-November 1998),and as
commercial director in Unis-Adria Banja Luka, a private food
production and sales company (1992-1996). During the same
period (1992-1996) he worked as a lecturer at the Criminal
Law and Criminal Sciences School for Internal Affairs of
Republika Srpska in Banja Luka.


12. (SBU) Before the war, Novic was head of intelligence in
the former Yugoslav Republic of BiH. At that time this
function was called "Under Secretary of the Republic of
Bosnia and Herzegovina State Security Service." He served in
that position from 1988 to 1991. He retired officially in
1991, when he refused to join the Serb Democratic Party (SDS)
and support their activities that led to the outbreak of war
in 1992. He did move to Banja Luka, but did not participate
in wartime atrocities committed by Serb security forces. His
professional future did not look bright after the war as a
result. However, Novic re-emerged after Biljana Plavsic
became RS president and Milorad Dodik RS PM and Novic was
named RS Minister of Interior.


13. (SBU) Novic's mandate as RS Minister of Interior ended
when Mladen Ivanic was elected RS Prime Minister in 2000.
However, Novic was appointed head of SIPA over the objections
of Serb member of the BiH Presidency at the time, Zivko
Radicic, who was swayed by allegations by the RS Chief
Auditor that Novic had embezzled 3 million KM in connection
with the construction of the building that houses the RS
Ministry of Interior. The case was never brought to trial.
The former director of the RS Tax Administration (a close
Ivanic associate),accused Novic of giving legal advice to
companies involved in money laundering. There also were
unsubstantiated media reports that Novic facilitated the
movement and protection of Radovan Karadzic during his term
as RS Interior Minister.

MINISTER OF JUSTICE
BARISA COLAK (BEAR-ee-sa CHO-lak),HDZ-BiH
--------------


14. (SBU) Barisa Colak was born January 1, 1956 in Siroki
Brijeg, West Herzegovina. He completed high school in

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Mostar, where he also completed law school and was admitted
to the bar. Colak began his career at the Mostar City Court,
where he later served as a judge from 1988-92. When the war
broke out and Bosnian Croats created the Republic of
Herzeg-Bosnia in 1992, Colak was appointed its minister of
justice. After the 1994 Washington Agreement established
cantons as sub-state organizational units, Colak was
appointed Minister of Justice in the newly formed
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. From 1996-1998, he served as the
cantonal Prime Minister. At the 1998 general elections,
Colak was elected to the Federation House of Representatives.
After serving only two years of the four year mandate, he
left the House to become the Federation Minister of Justice.


15. (SBU) From 2000-2002 Colak proved himself to be a loyal
party soldier, obeying the orders of the HDZ party leadership
and joining them in a boycott of state-level institutions as
part of the "Croat Self-Rule" (third entity) movement. In
2002, after OHR and the international community removed Ante
Jelavic as president of the HDZ and barred him from public
office, Colak, with the support of the powerful Dragan Covic,
became HDZ president. Following the 2002 general elections,
Colak was appointed BiH Minister of Security. He retained his
position as HDZ President until 2005, when Dragan Covic came
out of the shadows and officially took over leadership of the
party. Far from being upset that Covic took over, Colak
appeared relieved to be out of the presidency position.
Colak is not a strong politician, and his tenure as Minister
of Security was unimpressive. He seemed to be mostly a
figurehead as minister, with all of the important work being
done by his capable assistant minister Vjekoslav Vukovic.


16. (SBU) Colak is quiet and reserved. Sent as a stand-in
for Covic to the Dayton Anniversary celebrations in November
2005 (Covic was under indictment and so not invited),Colak
was visibly uncomfortable when asked to sign a declaration
committing to move forward with constitutional reform. When
he tried to reach Covic by telephone, Covic was conveniently
unavailable, leaving Colak hanging and backed into a corner.
After much prodding by U.S. officials, Colak finally agreed
to sign the declaration, but only after Croat Tri-Presidency
member Ivo Miro Jovic (also of HDZ) agreed to sign as well,
providing the political cover Colak needed. Colak is married
with two children. He does not speak English.

MINISTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND REFUGEES
SAFET HALILOVIC (SAH-fet ha-LEEL-o-vich),SBiH
-------------- -


17. (SBU) Safet Halilovic, most recently the BiH Minister of
Civil Affairs, replaced SBiH's founder and President Haris
Silajdzic, at the April 2003 party congress. He stepped down
upon Silajdzic's return to politics in early 2006. Halilovic
was a member of the SDA during the war, but left the party to
join Silajdzic in 1996. For four years, Halilovic was
secretary general of the party. He served as minister of

SIPDIS
education in the Sarajevo Canton government from 1998-2000.
In 2000, Halilovic became chairman of the collective party
presidency. From 2000-02 he served as Federation President
and Vice-President. He is a professor at the Faculty of
Political Science at the Univrsity of Sarajevo.


18. (SBU) Halilovic participated in the U.S. sponsored
constitutional reform negotiations starting in late 2005.
He attended the Dayton Anniversary in Washington in November
2005, and signed the pledge, along with all other party
leaders, that he and his party would strive to reach
consensus on changes to the BiH constitution. Upon his
return to Sarajevo, however, Halilovic staked out maximalist
positions, including: BiH without entities, BiH with a single
president directly elected nationwide from one electoral
unit, BiH with a single parliament directly elected, no House
of Peoples, etc. By the time the parties took up the most
contentious issue, entity voting, Halilovic had withdrawn
from the talks and had begun actively undercutting the
process in the press.

MINISTER OF SECURITY
TARIK SADOVIC (TAH-reek SAHD-o-vich),SDA
--------------


19. (SBU) Tarik Sadovic was born in Trebinje (now part of
the Republika Srpska) in 1956. After completing secondary
school in Trebinje, he pursued a degree at the Faculty of
Architecture in Sarajevo. From 1981-92, Sadovic worked in

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Trebinje as an engineer, designer, and director of a design
office. He also worked part time as a professor in the
Secondary School of Architecture in Trebinje. Sadovic
remained in Sarajevo during the war and afterwards continued
designing buildings in Sarajevo. He also worked as head of
the office for resolving the status problems of refugees and
displaced persons. Before the war, Sadovic worked as
volunteer President of the Council of Local Communities in
the Municipal Assembly of Trebinje. An active SDA member,
Sadovic has maintained a strong presence on the political
scene in Trebinje and in the RS National Assembly. Sadovic
has been member of SDA since 1996. From 2000-02, he was an
analyst and political associate in the SDA head-office in
Sarajevo. He has been a member of the SDA Main Board since
2001 and a member of SDA Presidency since 2005.


20. (SBU) From 1997-1999 and from 2000-04 Sadovic was an SDA
councilor in the local Trebinje Assembly. From 1998-2006 he
served as an SDA delegate in the RS National Assembly, and
from 2003-06 he was Head of the SDA Caucus in RS National
Assembly. During his political career in Trebinje as local
assembly council member, Sadovic showed a significant level
of courage, especially during his first mandate, when
Trebinje was an SDS stronghold. He pressed for the provision
of security to all citizens, the reconstruction of destroyed
religious facilities, and the return of property to pre-war
owners to help the return of the expelled Bosniak community.


21. (SBU) As Head of the Bosniak Caucus in the RSNA, Sadovic
was active in expressing his views on difficult issues, but
remained open to discussions with his political opponents.
Given his SDA role, Sadovic supports the idea of
Bosnia-Herzegovina as a multi-ethnic home for all citizens
and is a strong supporter of SDA President Sulejman Tihic.
Sadovic is married with two children. He understands English
well, although he is not comfortable speaking it. The
Embassy has enjoyed excellent cooperation with him over many
years, and sent him on an IVP program in January 2006.

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
BOZO LJUBIC (BO-zho LYOO-bich),HDZ-1990
--------------


22. (SBU) Ljubic was born September 30, 1949 and is an
orthopedist by profession. He currently is a professor at the
Medical School of Mostar University (West) and the President
of HDZ 1990. Ljubic was a member of the Croatian Democratic
Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) for many years
before he came to prominence when in June 2005 he opposed the
internal election of Dragan Covic to the party presidency,
claiming election fraud. In April 2006, the rift between
Ljubic and party leaders escalated, and he led the formation
of HDZ 1990. The new party was welcomed by the Roman Catholic
Church and the president of the Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) (and Croatian PM) Ivo Sanader. Ljubic was the HDZ
1990 candidate for the Croat seat in the state
Tri-Presidency, but came in third with 18 percent of the
vote, after both Zeljko Komsic of SDP and Ivo Miro Jovic of
HDZ BiH.


23. (SBU) In 1998, Ljubic was the handpicked choice of HDZ
President Franjo Tudjman to lead the Bosnian wing of the
party. But Ljubic was bested by the "generals' lobby" of the
HDZ which defied Tudjman and instead elected Ante Jelavic as
HDZ-BiH president. After the breakdown of the Croat Self-Rule
(third entity) movement, Ljubic headed an HDZ team tasked
with negotiating the return of the HDZ officials to
Federation institutions.


24. (SBU) In 2005, when Ljubic again sought the presidency
of HDZ but lost to Covic, he filed a complaint with the BiH
Election Commission alleging the party election was fixed.
Ljubic and several of his supporters eventually were ejected
from the party in late 2005.

MINISTER OF FINANCE
DRAGAN VRANKIC (DRAH-gahn VRAN-kich),HDZ-BiH
--------------


25. (SBU) Dragan Vrankic became Minister of Finance and the
Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation in 2003. Vrankic was
selected to fill this post by Dragan Covic, the HDZ
president. Covic valued his assistance when he served as the
cantonal Minister of Finance in Mostar in the late nineties,
a period during which the HDZ political elite allegedly

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conducted many illegal privatization deals.


26. (SBU) Vrankic was born in 1955 in Capljina, Herzegovina.
He received a bachelor's degree in economics from the
University of Dubrovnik. Before the war, Vrankic worked in
Energoinvest company's branch office in Capljina. During the
war, Vrankic was a municipal official in Capljina, where he
served under the leadership of Pero Markovic, one of the most
notorious hardliners in the HDZ. The Capljina municipality
was ethnically cleansed of all Bosniaks and Serbs, with many
detained in Dretelj concentration camp.


27. (SBU) After the war, Vrankic served as Deputy Minister
of Finance and then as Minister of Finance in the government
of Herzegovina Neretva Canton (from 1996 to 2000). Many
suspicious privatization deals involving the HDZ leadership,
including the privatization of the Mostar Aluminum plant,
Eronet mobile network, hotel "Ero" in Mostar and the Soko
aviation industry, all took place during Vrankic's mandate.
He claimed that it was all done in accordance with existing
laws. He has never faced a formal investigation of his
activities during that period. Following the 2000 general
elections, Vrankic served as Governor of the
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and supported the "Croat
Self-rule" movement of HDZ President Ante Jelavic.


28. (SBU) In 2003, Vrankic became the Federation Minister of
Finance, officially responsible for the functioning of the
Federation Financial Police. Vrankic made no secret of the
fact that he wanted to overhaul the Financial Police, the
institution that had investigated his party patron Dragan
Covic. Vrankic attempted to effect change by replacing the
director and chief inspector with party loyalists. The plan
did not work, largely because of the strong backing of the
Financial Police by the USG. Vrankic does not speak English.

MINISTER OF FOREIGN TRADE
SLOBODAN PUHALAC (slow-BOW-dahn poo-HALL-ats),SNSD
-------------- --------------


29. (SBU) Born on November 11, 1941 in Visegrad (now part of
Republika Srpska),Puhalac completed elementary and high
school in Visegrad and graduated from the Faculty of
Agriculture of the University of Sarajevo. He began his
career at the "Plantaze" company in Bosanka Gradiska in 1975.
From 1979-84, Puhalac worked for the World Bank, advising
agricultural producers in Yugoslavia. In 1992, he became
general manager of the "Poljoexport" company, which went
public in 2002. He now is the owner and general manager.
Puhalac would likely have stayed out of politics altogether
if he had not been heavily recruited by RS PM Dodik and BiH
PM Spiric to become minister of foreign trade. Puhalac lives
in Laktasi (Dodik's hometown) with his wife and son.
MCELHANEY